Community Oriented Policing

The approach to police service in the Addison Police Department has traditionally been incident driven. Most of the department's activities were aimed at resolving individual incidents, rather than groups of incidents or problems. Problem Oriented Policing (POP) is an alternative to incident driven policing. The theory behind POP deals with the underlying conditions that create problems.

Reacting to calls for service is only one step towards a solution. Officers must go further and attempt to find a permanent resolution of the problem which created the call.

The Addison Police Department will always handle calls for service, and we will do much more. Officers will use the information gathered in their response to incidents, together with information obtained from other sources, to get a clearer picture of the problem. The underlying conditions will then be addressed. If the officer is successful in improving these conditions, fewer incidents may occur, or those that do occur may be less serious. The incidents may even cease. At the very least, information about the problem can help to design more effective ways of responding to each incident.

Problem Oriented Policing is a viable form of policing that will become more prevalent in the future. POP will have a major impact on the safety of the Village. When the community is made safer, it not only affects the citizens that live there, but also provides a safer environment for Addison Police Department personnel who work in the neighborhoods.